A Beautiful Evil (A Beautiful Book. 1) #Wattys2015

Chapter Five - Masquerade Ball

The sun wasn't visible over the horizon anymore when my feet finally touched the soft, cool mud close to where Curran's body had hit the ground. From high in the air, the fire that ignited in his chest, glowing and expanding, didn't seem nearly as bright as before. So I watched as the gargoyle's corpse was swallowed by white flame and as his tortured soul hovered close to the ground, fighting the pull my father had on him. He didn't resist long, given the fact that a few minuets later the dark cloud that was his soul, sank into the ground.

Now I had to find out where I was, but considering the swamps, mud, and the slight whiff of sea salt I caught in the breeze... I figured I was still close to Venice. So what were those low-lifes going to do to me? We could have been easily out of the state by now. I pondered this for a few seconds before I realized I still had to find Charles.

He'd taken off right before I was hit in the back of the head. He didn't answer me when I called his name, even though I knew for a fact that he could still hear me. So did he have something to do with my capture? Would Charles do that to me?

But something was confusing about him...Strange even. Yes, he was the same guy I knew centuries ago. The same bright blue eyes, short chopped blond hair, overly cocky smile and big, soft lips... Just... Different. The way he acted was odd. It's as if Alvah didn't just pick up a new name over the years... It's as if Charles was Alvah's new personality. What happened to him?

Before I could even think about Charles and his disappearance, I had to know my exact location. Using me legs like giant, coiled springs, I leapt into the sky, my wings snapping out to catch air and propel me skyward. I pumped my wings until I was higher than even the birds dared to fly, cherishing the cold mist of the clouds as they caressed my skin. I purred, the slow vibration rumbling through my core and out to my limbs.

Scanning the area, my eye's like a hawks, I spotted a small clump of building huddled together in the distance, tiny lights shinning through the now dark sky. About three or four miles out. I tilted my body so I was parallel to the ground below, and pumped my wings, driving me towards my destination.

It took a quite a few minuets minuets, twenty maybe, but it wasn't long till I was hovering high above the small, non expecting town. The moon was hight now, but was drowned out by the giant clouds in front of it. Descending quietly, I fluttered my wings so the brought me down softly on a roof of a small, brick home; my taloned feet gripped the rough shingles slightly so I didn't wake the humans inside.

I needed to get back to the crappy hotel Charles called home to retrieve my phone that I left on the nightstand. Plus, I needed clothes. Running around a town, even one as small as Venice, naked, or even in my True Form, would probably draw attention. And I was almost certain that Charles didn't have only one change of clothes in his room.

So, as quiet as a lioness stalking her prey, I kept from building to building, closing in on the hotel. I kept my wings tight against my back and stayed flattened on the rooftops. I couldn't be seen.

Yes, over the years there were some of my people, including myself, that hadn't been so careful time and time again, and was spotted among the humans. Where do you think the tales of gargoyles came from?

I'd only been warned by my father once when I was younger. The year was 500 AD, right after the Western Roman Empire had collapsed, and time was merging into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery and 100 years before his precious Greeks would perish. Yet again, Daddy had sot out to find a new home for us in the rolling hills of a small kingdom called Jeblington in Eastern Ireland. Rolling hills and small rock cliffs littered Ireland's surface, making it a beautiful corner of the world that seemed somewhat untouched by man's unforgiving clutches.